CLARKSVILLE, Tenn. – Whenever first-time visitors come to see Ruby Outlaw at her home, almost always they start out calling her Mrs. Outlaw. After a brief bit, they switch to Ms. Ruby. By the time they leave, it’s Big Mama.

Ruby Outlaw is that nice, that friendly, and that welcoming to others.

But she’s something else too — she is 100 years old.

Ms. Ruby celebrated her 100th birthday on Feb. 12 with a big party on Valentine’s Day. More than 200 family members and friends turned out for the event to show their love for someone very special to them.

Not every family member was able to attend the party because the family is spread out all over the country.

Big Mama and her husband had six children. There are 22 grandchildren and 100 great and great-great grandchildren.

It would have been miraculous if every family member had attended.

Big Mama, which is the name she prefers to be called, has seen plenty of changes in her 100 years.

“I remember going to the store in a horse and buggy. We couldn’t afford a car,” she said. “We grew all of our food, and we raised chickens, cows and hogs. The best sausage I’ve ever had was the sausage we made. We would take corn down to the mill to have it ground.”

A lifelong member of Haynes Chapel Baptist Church, she also attended grammar school there. The school included grades 1 through 8 and might have had up to 75 students at any one time. She doesn’t exactly recall the enrollment.

“When we would go to Palmyra, we would cross the Cumberland River on the ferry. The trip was always a daylong event,” she said. “I was about 14 years old when I taught myself to drive. Nobody had driver’s licenses then. If you wanted to go somewhere and you had a car, you just drove to wherever you needed to go.”

Outlaw grew up during the Great Depression. Life was tough enough already for black people then, and the depression only made it worse.

“Something that we always had in abundance at our house was love,” she said. “Life centered on the family and everybody pitched in to support each other, including their neighbors.

“People shared good times and bad times back then. When somebody was hurting in some way, you came to their aid and provided help in some way. Nowadays people don’t even know their neighbors.”

The Dotsonville area is where Big Mama has always lived; she’s lived in her present house since 1961. And she knows her neighbors. She treats people like she always has, the right way.

“One of the family described Big Mama as always having this glow about her, being good to people, and sharing love with everybody,” said her son, John Outlaw. “To me, she has always been straightforward with everybody. You always know where she stands with people!”

Added her granddaughter Renee Outlaw: “My grandmother has always taken good care of herself. People don’t know that she used to do a hundred sit-ups every day until just a few years ago.”

She has met physical challenges with the same type of determination.

“My knees were giving me problems some years ago, and the surgeon told me I needed to have both knees replaced. I told him I was 88 years old and not going through two operations, so he could just do both knees at the same time,” said Big Mama. “I did my physical therapy at home and recovered so quickly that the doctor said his younger patients should be ashamed for taking so long to recover and complaining the whole time.”

In all her years, Big Mama has witnessed that she thought she would never see is the election of a black man as President of the United States. It is one of the highlights of her life.

“I’ve lived a good life, always placed my trust in God, and my faith has never failed me,” she said.

For her birthday, she received a personal letter from President Obama, a visit from Montgomery County Mayor Jim Durrett, made an Honorary Sheriff of Montgomery County, and was given a Key to the City of Dickson.

“I am grateful for everything I have, especially all my family,” she said. “Now I want to get on with the next 100 years!”